TypePad Hacks will help you make the most of your TypePad blog now, while attempting to improve the platform by connecting the TypePad Design Team to their User Base. There are three areas of focus at TypePad Hacks.
User Design: Collecting useful hacks for extending the capabilities of TypePad blogs now.
User Forum: Providing a blog forum for issues, news and user concerns about SixApart products and service.
User Power: Organizing users into a unified voice to lobby SixApart for the features, fixes and changes to TypePad most important to us.
TypePad Hacks documents ways to extend the functionality of your TypePad blog, both with code that can be used in advanced templates and third party services (such as Technorati or Feedburner).

John T. UngerApril 4, 2008

I just wrote a guest post for Everything TypePad about new features for the PayPal Storefront Widget. I've archived a copy of the post in the extended entry below, or you can cick through to read it on Everything TypePad here.

When I first wrote about the Paypal Storefront Widget,
I called it "the fastest, easiest eCommerce solution for blogs." If
you're looking for a quick and easy way to add fully functional
eCommerce to your blog (whether selling goods or services) you should
definitely give the Storefront Widget a look. The widget works equally
well for TypePad blogs using basic or
advanced templates. You can add a
storefront with a single click by visiting TypePad's Widget Gallery.
Or, you can embed as many stores as you like, anywhere you want, by
cutting and pasting a snippet of code provided by PayPal at the end of
the
set-up process. For a list of features and an overview of what the
Storefront Widget can do for your blog, please check out my previous
articles on Everything TypePad and my own blog TypePad Hacks.

I'm writing about the Storefront Widget again today to tell you about some new
features and to congratulate Judy Chang and the PayPal Distributed
Payments team on the fantastic effort they've put in to supporting
widget users and continuing to improve the widget for everyone.

Here's a list of what's new for the widget:

Multiple Currencies: One of the most-requested
features that was missing from the initial release was the ability to
sell in currencies other than US Dollars. This has been addressed and
you can now configure your store to sell using any of the 17 currencies that PayPal supports.

Product Options: Just like the original PayPal
buttons, you can now customize up
to two options for a product. For items that might come in different
sizes, colors or materials this is certainly handy. Even better, you
can now also include a surcharge for certain options if you want to.
For instance, if you're selling jewelry, you could set different prices
for the same ring done in gold or silver. Or you could use the
surcharge to offer upgrades to services.

Inventory Control: For items that have limited
quantities, you can now specify the available inventory. This can be
broken down further to allow you to set inventory numbers for each item
by options or combinations of options (ie: I have 9 red shirts, size
xxl and 15 blue shirts, size xxl).

Store Reputation: We all know that favorable
feedback from buyers is one of the best ways to increase trust online.
Now, customers who buy from your Storefront Widget can provide written
feedback and rate your store from 1-5 stars. Only one rating per
transaction is allowed and buyers must provide the invoice ID that
PayPal generates in order to leave feedback.

Shipping Options: Originally, shipping had to be
included in the sale price. The obvious drawback to this approach is
that it makes items look more expensive. Although the widget does not
yet include a way to automatically generate shipping costs, the PayPal
team has called attention to a clever hack developed by sellers using
the widget: You can add shipping fees to your storefront and have
buyers select the proper shipping rate as an item based on the order
subtotal. This is still an imperfect solution for some situations, but
should prove useful for many sellers.